Valve released Portal 2 in 2011, and that’s the last time players returned to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, except as a backdrop for demoing new VR tech. The dream of exploring beyond the end of the second game has been kept alive, though, thanks to mods.

When I heard that the next game to yank us back into Aperture Science’s bleached-white bowels would be about bridge building, I figured it’d be a skip for me. I just got done playing Bridge Constructor Portal for a few hours, though, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

A sub-eleven minute run of the original Portal is a big deal for the game’s speedrunning community, but the accomplishment is even better when viewed listening to Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Today was one of those occasions that comes once, maybe twice (but definitely not thrice) in a lifetime. Gabe Newell arose from his Scrooge McDuck-esque lake of knives and cash to conduct an AMA. Spoiler: he likes Portal 2 more than Half-Life, and despite appearances to the contrary, Valve still makes games.

Doug “Rat Man” Rattmann is one of the most important characters in Portal, though he didn’t appear in either game. The message-scrawling scientist made his video game debut in Lego Dimensions’ Portal level pack, though he’s so well hidden it took more than a year to find him.

Whether it’s an RPG that tells a story over dozens of hours, or a strategy game that takes months to master, games are often a considerable time investment. For many people this is central to gaming’s appeal: nowhere else in art can you find such complete worlds to lose yourself in or such stern challenges to overcome.

It’s the kind of thing you wonder after having too many donuts and margaritas: what would happen if you were stuck inside the two portals that a Portal gun shoots out? The answer: shit gets weird, man.

Free Portal-themed goodness comes to Rocket League PC on Tuesday. Players need but to complete a match to earn several pieces of Aperture Science-flavored kit, from cake stickers to Companion Cube antenna toppers. Check out the Steam news post for full details.